It's a new week.

After dinner on Monday, before the Transfiguration Club event began, Scott took the initiative to come to Professor McGonagall's office.

When he explained his intentions, Professor McGonagall was not surprised.

"You've decided to start preparing for the pre-ritual of the transformation of the Animagus?"

She nodded to Scott.

"With your mastery of the Transfiguration of the Human Body, you can indeed start preparing."

She thought for a moment and said, "Today is April 18th, and it happens that the 25th of this month is the full moon, so you can start the ceremony from that day." ”

As she spoke, she got up from the chair behind her desk, opened the cabinet next to her, and pulled out a glass bottle.

"This is my collection of mandrake leaves." She handed the sealed glass bottle to Scott, "Remember, you have to keep it in your mouth for a whole month, and if the leaf leaves your mouth or is destroyed, the whole process has to start all over again." ”

Scott hurriedly accepted the glass bottle and thanked him solemnly.

"You have to be careful." Professor McGonagall told him, "The ritual must begin with a full moon, and if it fails this time, you will have to wait until next month to start again." ”

Scott nodded, and asked with some distress, "Professor, do you have any tricks?" I mean, when eating, washing, or sleeping, it's easy to fail. ”

Professor McGonagall shook her head, "There's no trick to this step, you have to be careful. ”

"I see, Professor." Scott looked at the fresh-looking leaf in the sealed glass bottle with some distress.

Professor McGonagall laughed, suggesting, "There's still a week until the 25th, and this week you can train with other leaves and try to get used to living with leaves in your mouth before the full moon." ”

Scott accepted Professor McGonagall's suggestion.

From the next day, he tried to keep the mint leaves in his mouth.

But such training obviously did not go well.

On the first day of his attempt, Scott consumed a dozen mint leaves.

When I speak, it's okay, and I don't fail many times.

But I always accidentally bite or swallow it when eating, the same is true when I drink water, and it is even more troublesome when I brush my teeth.

What's even more outrageous is that when you sneeze, you unconsciously spit the leaves out of your mouth.

By the end of the night, Scott had lost much confidence that he would be able to hold on to the leaves for a month.

"Unless I can skip eating, drinking, or brushing my teeth, there's still a little chance of success."

In the dorm, Scott said to his roommates.

"You can only do it without brushing your teeth." Eddie laughed and said, "If you're really going to do that, then please stay away from us for a month." ”

Scott took another mint leaf in his mouth and said vaguely, "Now I want to see if I will unconsciously swallow the leaf when I sleep." ”

Roger also looked at Scott sympathetically, "This is too troublesome!" It's no wonder that wizards who have been able to successfully perform Animagus transformations are a minority of the few. ”

"But Scott always has to try." "Because he has that talent." ”

Eddie gloated again, "yes, come on, Scott, in order not to waste your talent." ”

Scott didn't want to pay attention to him and slept with mint leaves in his mouth.

However, when he woke up the next morning, he found that the mint leaf that he had held in his mouth had stuck to the pillow.

“……”

Scott casts a vanishing spell on the disgusting-looking leaf.

After waking up, he tried to brush his teeth again with a leaf in his mouth, and again failed in the gargling step.

Looking at his rare predicament, Eddie and Roger couldn't stop laughing.

At the long breakfast table, the two guys who wanted to watch the excitement had also been observing Scott's meal.

Scott ignored them as much as he could.

He can only eat carefully, whether it is chewing or swallowing, which causes him to eat very slowly.

It wasn't until it took twice as long as usual to finish breakfast, and the leaves in his mouth were still intact, that Scott couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"It's so sad." He muttered.

In order to reduce the loss of accidental sneezing when he spoke, he put on a mask after breakfast and spent the new day with the principle of not talking if he could not speak.

At the end of the day, he consumed a total of seven mint leaves.

The number has dropped below ten, which is also considered some improvement.

When he went to bed that day, he put on a self-made "artifact" that prevented him from sleeping and opened his mouth-

Wrap your chin with a stretchy cloth and hang both ends with a rope over your ears.

This time he succeeded.

I woke up on Thursday morning, and the leaf I had been holding before going to bed was still in my mouth.

From this day on, Scott lived a life of trying not to open his mouth to speak, eating and brushing his teeth carefully, wearing a mask during the day, and wearing an anti-opening mouth "artifact" when he slept at night.

On Thursday, he consumed a total of five mint leaves.

On Friday, four tablets.

Early Saturday morning, Scott got up before dawn again and waited in the deserted common room for Rimbaud, who flew in through the owl passage.

It wasn't until he had set up the spell that Rimbaud began to speak.

"Good morning!" Rimbaud raised a paw, "I brought it back." ”

Scott, who was wearing a mask, just nodded and didn't speak.

He reached out and took the little gray gecko, and then took out his [Magic Mirror].

After importing the Gecko's "recording" effect of the week into the Magic Mirror, he sped up the "video" and then began to focus on the part where Mr. Bode was alone in the office.

But it didn't pay him much.

Although Mr. Bode has always been gloomy, decadent, and withdrawn, there is no other evidence that he is the mysterious Mr. B.

"Perhaps Mr. Bode is an overly cautious man." Rimbaud said nonsense, "Maybe he's not Mr. B at all." ”

But Scott didn't jump to conclusions.

"Do you need to keep an eye on him?" Rimbaud asked.

Scott shook his head.

"Not at the moment." He shook the [Magic Mirror] in his hand and said in a somewhat muffled voice, "I still need to take the time to double-check what has been taken." ”

Rimbaud nodded.

Scott added: "Next, pay more attention to Azkaban's side, if there is really an incident of Voldemort's prison robbery, I want to know as soon as possible." ”

"Don't worry." Rimbaud said with some pride, "The crows that used to live on that island of Azkaban have been conquered by me, and if there is unrest on that island, they will come to my territory to inform me." ”

"Good." Scott nodded and let it out of the common room.

On Saturday, Scott consumed a total of two mint leaves.

It wasn't until Sunday that Scott finally kept the same leaf in his mouth from morning to the next morning.

This new Monday is the 25th, which is also the day of the Full Moon.

That night, after brushing his teeth and rinsing his mouth, Scott took the mandrake leaf Professor McGonagall had given him into his mouth in the moonlight.

That same night, while Scott was working on his paper in the common room wearing a mask, Luna took the initiative to walk up to him again.

"You don't have to speak, Scott." Luna said to him, "I already know you're preparing for the Animagus. ”

Scott nodded.

Luna brought a stool and sat next to him and began to write her homework as well.

Scott gave her a puzzled look.

Luna looked up at him as well, and then smiled faintly.

"I still haven't figured it out, maybe something is destined not to be understood." She whispered, looking serious, "But, I said it, I'll watch you." ”

After speaking, she lowered her head again and began to write her thesis seriously.

Scott smiled silently, retracted his gaze, and continued to write.

From that day on, Scott and Luna spent more time together.

Although Scott is still extremely busy due to different grades and different classes, and the time he spends with Luna is really not much, it is still a lot more than before.

Luna would sit next to him during meals, they would often do their homework together, and sometimes in the evenings when Scott returned to Ravenclaw Tower from Professor Flitwick's office, Luna would wait in the common room to talk to him before going to bed.

It's really a good fulfillment of the promise of "I'll watch you".

In this regard, Scott is only up to her.

The intimacy between the two certainly caught the attention of others, and there was a lot of gossip about it.

"The genius of Ravenclaw is in love with a mad girl!"

This seems to have been a hot topic among Hogwarts students for some time.

But both Scott and Luna are their own things and don't care what other people think.

In the midst of the rumors, they still maintained their rhythm and were not affected in the slightest.

As a result, even Scott's friends begin to misunderstand his relationship with Luna.

Scott only explained "yes friends" when they first asked.

Of course, as a friend who knows him, after a period of time, it can be seen that there is no spark of love between the two.

"Why?" Eddie, who is a gossip expert, was most interested in this topic and specifically asked Scott, "I thought you were finally starting to fall in love." ”

Scott just smiled and didn't bother to speak.

"Speaking of which, all four of us in the dormitory are single." Eddie said, "I didn't expect even that Roger guy to change. ”

Scott shrugged his shoulders, then pulled out his wand and used his magic to leave two lines of glittering words in the air—

[Maybe the girls in Hogwarts who fit his aesthetic have already talked to him.] ］

Seeing these two lines, Eddie laughed.

"Let's talk about you." After laughing, he still couldn't gossip, "Isn't Luna good, I always thought you admired her." ”

Scott: "......"

[I do admire her, but not in the way you think.] ］

He was pretty sure that he and Luna had only friendship before.

On the one hand, it was because Luna was still young, and in his eyes she was just a smart child.

On the other hand, since Scott knew the enemy he was going to face in the future through prophecy, he had no intention of falling in love at all.

As for Luna?

Scott thinks she's not going to know anything about it.

Overall, Scott's side was fine, but he found that Luna's situation inside the academy seemed to have gotten worse.

Originally, Luna could be regarded as an outlier in Ravenclaw, where there are many weirdos, and she has always been a little ostracized.

After Sawana dropped out of school, Luna also lost a female friend from the same college.

Since she became apparently closer to Scott, her exclusion from the girls seems to have intensified.

Fortunately, she has a good relationship with Ginny, and after Scott reminded her before, she will no longer let others steal her things, but has learned to refuse, which makes Scott not worry too much about her situation.

Of course, he asked Luna about one of his homework.

"Are you okay? I mean, there don't seem to be any girls in the academy who are friends with you. Scott's question was direct.

Of course, Luna is also used to this directness.

"I'm doing well." She said.

Her answer was not reluctant, and she didn't seem to understand why Scott cared about it, and it was clear that she didn't care about the exclusion of girls her age.

"It's all because you're so popular." She looked very understanding of others, "Everyone wants to be friends with you." ”

In response, Scott could only shrug his shoulders.

Seriously, he really didn't feel how popular he was.

After all, from the past to the present, only Sawana was the only girl who took the initiative to express her affection to him.

Even if you put aside the part of being in love, there are few people who just want to be friends with him.

As if to see his doubts, Luna said, "You've only been playing with a few specific people, Eddie, Milton, Roger, and Fred and George, and a lot of people think you're not easy to approach. ”

I see.

Scott nodded.

He's not a warm guy and doesn't need a lot of friends.

But he didn't feel like he was afraid to approach......

"I don't think the older students would say that." He spoke, slowly, cautiously, "But I do have very little contact with younger students. ”

In the second year of Ravenclaw, he only knew Luna, Savana, and Jacob, and in the first year...... Although he and Kayla were in charge of the orientation, he really didn't remember a single name.

However, seeing that Luna was not affected and was still living comfortably, he was relieved and did not bother too much about this issue.

Instead, Luna asked him, "Do you have any troubles?" ”

"You know again?" Scott is no longer surprised.

At this time, he was really not in a good mood.

He had taken the time to check the image of Mr. Bode in [Magic Mirror], but still found no clues.

Of course, this may also be because he is too busy, coupled with the troubles and psychological stress caused by living an overly cautious life with a leaf in his mouth, which causes him to have no time or patience to scrutinize the images.

Under Luna's insistent questioning, since there was no way to lie and no need to hide it, Scott told her about it as concisely as possible.

"Then leave it to me." Luna offered to hold out her hand, "I'll help you double-check." ”

Although not hopeful, Scott did not refuse.

After showing her the [Book of Prometheus] of the Scholars' Alliance's identity card and card variations, Scott gave her the [Magic Mirror].

Scott agrees to help Luna just because he doesn't want to live up to her kindness, but he doesn't expect Luna to surprise him unexpectedly.

For a week after that, Luna didn't take the initiative to bring it up in her dealings with him.

But a week later, on Tuesday night, when Scott returned to the common room after dueling practice, he found Luna sitting on the couch waving happily to him, still holding his [Magic Mirror].

"I found it." Luna said, "A little clue. ”

It was already after curfew and there was no one else in the common room.

Scott walked over to Luna and sat down, took the [Magic Mirror] in her hand, and looked at the image presented on the mirror.

It's a still picture of Mr. Bode standing in front of a messy bookshelf in his office, holding a large black tome in his hand, about to turn away.

Scott looked up and gave Luna a quizzed look.

"I've taken out the problematic passage." Luna reached for the [Magic Mirror] and tapped it on the surface a few times, motioning for Scott to look again.

Scott looked again.

This time, it's a moving image.

Mr. Bode got up from behind his desk, walked over to the unusually messy bookshelf, reached for the black book from the shelf, and turned away.

The screen is still.

After reading it this time, Scott still didn't find any clues.

But he didn't choose to ask.

Since Luna says she found a problem in this video, it means that he has overlooked something.

So he took the [Magic Mirror] again, clicked on the mirror, and played the image several times.

It wasn't until the fifth broadcast that he finally discovered the problem.

It's not a hidden flaw, but it's easy to ignore the past if you don't pay attention to the images.

The problem is the number of books on the shelves.

The shelves were a mess, with papers and books stacked on top of each other, and the books looked the same as the one Mr. Bode had taken.

But because the image could be paused and zoomed in, Scott counted that the books on the shelves hadn't actually diminished after Mr. Bode had taken the book down.

That is, the book in his hand appeared out of thin air.

Because he covered the book with his body when he took it off, it was not possible to see from behind him that he was not actually taking the book from the shelf.

"One more point."

Luna stretched out her finger and swiped across the mirror, finally stopping the scene before Mr. Bode walked over to the bookshelf and raised his hand to pretend to take the book.

She then zoomed in on the image and showed Scott Mr. Bode's right hand.

"Here." She pointed to the cuff of Mr. Bode's right hand.

Scott took a closer look and found the clue again.

Mr. Baldur's black cuffs have a faint golden sheen on the edges, and if you look closely, it's not hard to guess that it's a golden card.

Now Scott can confirm that this Mr. Bode is also a member of the Scholars Alliance.

Although it is not yet possible to confirm whether he is Mr. B or not, it is a bonus.

"Thank you, Luna." He said to Luna.

Mr. Bodø acted so cautiously when he was alone in his office, and neither of these two less obvious flaws could be found by looking for them at random.

One can imagine how much patience Luna put into this.

"No thanks, if you can help." Luna said with some amusement.

Scott nodded, and looked down at the image in the mirror again.

Through the reflection of the mirror at a certain angle, he saw the cold light in his eyes.

"Scott."

Just then, Luna reached out and put her hand on his arm.

Scott heard her ask, "What do you want to do?" ”

He turned his head and saw the worry in Luna's eyes.

"Don't worry." He whispered, "I'm just trying to figure out if he's the guy who threatened me." ”

Luna asked seriously, "What if it's him, what are you going to do after that?" ”

"Nothing will be done." Scott said.

"Really?" Luna blinked.

Scott nodded.

Luna laughed again.

"I trust you because you can't lie to me."

She didn't even ask Scott why she didn't do anything, but just stood up and waved at Scott.

"Good night, Scott."

"Good night, Luna."

Scott watched Luna enter the schoolgirl's dormitory through the stairs before looking back at [Magic Mirror] again.

He looked at Mr. Bode in the picture and smiled silently.

Although it was not yet confirmed, he guessed that this guy should be Mr. B.

To test this conjecture, he began to use the power of arithmetic divination.

Although few conditions are known, if only a vague answer is calculated......

At the end of a arithmetic divination, Scott also verified his guess.

He turned off the picture in [Magic Mirror] and got up and walked towards the dormitory.

He didn't cheat on Luna.

He really wouldn't do anything.

If he wants to deal with such a silent man who is accustomed to hiding himself and does not know what means he has, he must be careful and careful.

Acting rashly without knowing the other person well can lead to unpredictable consequences.

He was not in a hurry about this, and decided to continue to wait for the other party to make another move.

Of course, he is not in a hurry because the other party's threats are only verbal threats.

This painless threat Scott doesn't care.

In his mind, if this Mr. B really had evidence in his hands that could pose a real threat to him, with his eagerness to force him to comply, I am afraid that he would have already come up with it.

If he just made up some false memories for others and tried to accuse him with empty words, as he did in the last trial, Scott would not have worried about any serious consequences.

If the enemy does not move, I will not move.

He didn't ask for them as much as Mr. B and Grapeland had guessed, and he didn't value [the knowledge bank] as much as they thought, so he was fearless.

Speaking of which, although Grapeland may seem like that, Scott always felt that she was not very smart.

Because of her performance, and Mr. B's thunderous and small threat at that trial, Scott doesn't take them too seriously now.

Instead of spending too much time and energy battling wits with such people, he might as well learn more from a Ravenclaw mentor.

Of course, if one day Mr. B reveals any flaws, or lets Scott know his bottom line, then Scott will not be too polite to him.